What is the purpose of Profile Posts?

[bryanb]

I am in the midst of the aftermath of exporting/importing a massive (and old) vB board into Xenforo, and my members are being initiated into using "conversations" instead of PMs. But one thing that strikes me are the profile posts. What is the purpose of these if you have conversations enabled? We have a lot of folks using the profile posts as private messaging, and these messages should remain private. (I have cautioned them in the past)

Is there any benefit keeping profile posts enabled? If so, what is it?

 

[AndyB]

You might like this add-on which removes the profile posts function.

XF1 version
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/profile-page.3495/

XF2 version
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/profile-page.5616/

 

[The Sandman]

Is there any benefit keeping profile posts enabled? If so, what is it?

The purpose is that it can build a sense of community. It may or may not be beneficial depending on your niche and your member demographics.

 

[ge66]

I have never used them, better people post on the forum, easier for users and moderators to find. With XF2 it's easy to disable them completly with the permissions. No addons needed.

 

[bryanb]

Yeah, I think they are a hold over for when we had "guest books" and such. I'll probably shut them down since they are just too problematic. There is a sense of community throughout the forum already.

 

[StarArmy]

They are for social media style status updates.

 

[Yugensoft]

Yeah it's just a more social media style posting option. Somewhere between a thread and a private conversation.

For instance, I've noticed on some forums that long time members develop followings by newer members, due to their rank/status in the community, and they are seen as kinds of leaders or sages in their own right. Sometimes these forums will even start a running "Member X's thread" to express gratitude to them or keep track of their good content.

Profile posts offer a better way of doing that, even if they're uncommonly used. They can also be used like some forums use "rep", where people leave a note why they think that person is a good member.

So I think disabling it is a bit overreactive. You can just tell members "ignore the feature if you don't see a need for it", because eventually some people might.

If you just need to notify people that profile posts are public, it's a simple template edit to add such a note.

 

[bryanb]

...

If you just need to notify people that profile posts are public, it's a simple template edit to add such a note.

That's a great suggestion. Thanks! I have made sticky announcement posts - but to add this as a notice in the profile page is a great idea.